After an election, as voters, we hope to take a collective breath, look around at the changes on the horizon due to our collective decisions and as winners and losers move forward with those changes, knowing they came from our collective will. That’s democracy, plain and simple. Many had a collective sigh of relief after this last election that the majority of voters still believe in the rule of law and in accepting the outcomes of elections, even if some of our purported leaders did not.
With this in mind, it’s simply exhausting to see what sheriffs around the state—including those in Jefferson, Crook and Deschutes counties are saying in regard to Measure 114, the statewide gun measure that passed in Oregon this month. Sheriffs in these counties have taken to their pulpits to say that they either don’t plan to enforce the new law, or that they don’t plan to place priority on it. And in a quick puff of smoke, this dereliction of duty puts us back on the campaign trail.
While stopping short of banning assault weapons all together, Measure 114 was a half-step intended to limit the number of bullets inside a magazine and thus make it harder for someone to mow people down quickly. Measure 114 also requires citizens to obtain a permit to buy a gun and requires law enforcement to maintain a database of permit holders. These are hardly gun-grabbing measures which is probably the only reason it passed.
While we’ll admit that the rollout of the measure seems rather abrupt, with a deadline of the second week of December for permits and full implementation of the law by late January, that’s far less concerning than having a few sheriffs who we’ve elected to be the highest law enforcement officers in the county go rogue and decide to cherry pick which laws they’ll decide to enforce.
Imagine your own supervisor’s face when you told them you simply weren’t going to comply with the parts of the job you didn’t agree with.
In Jefferson County, Sheriff Jason Pollock said he believes the measure violates the U.S. Constitution and complained that Portland-area votes shouldn’t have this much influence over rural people’s lives. But, unfortunately, for Pollock that is not the issue at hand. Sheriffs following state law is infinitely more important. This is not 1884 in the Old West, where, in absence of over-arching laws, sheriffs were the ultimate authority.
Here in Deschutes, Sheriff Shane Nelson said the measure, “requires every sheriff’s office and police agency to devote scarce safety resources to background systems that already exist.” That may be true, but we do not expect the next sentence to be, “so I won’t be following the will of the voters.” What we hope to hear is, “I will do my best to find a solution.” Thankfully we don’t ask our local sheriffs to be constitutional scholars. That’s what the courts are for.
The recent tragedy in Colorado Springs follows on the heels of many other shootings like the one here at our Bend Safeway, and voters have responded by nudging elected officials to begin acting on what are modest gun restrictions. In the case of the Colorado Springs shooter, it’s possible that implementation of a red flag law—another boogieman in the eyes of many sheriffs—could have kept the shooter, who was arrested for allegedly threatening his mother with a bomb and weapons in 2021, from having the weapons needed to kill five people Saturday night.
If the courts agree with these sheriffs that this law is unconstitutional, only then would it be appropriate for local law enforcement to do or say anything differently than what the new law outlines. Likewise, if funding is the issue, sheriffs should be involved in the implementation of this law to ensure they have the funds they need to move forward. Cost of implementation should not be the deciding factor in implementing a law that a majority of Oregonians voted in favor of.
In any case, it’s time for local sheriffs to do their jobs and to enforce the laws of our state—all of them.
This article appears in Nov 23, 2022 – Dec 6, 2023.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
The VOTERS aren’t constitutional scholars EITHER!!
This letter is a crock of sh*t.
The 2nd Amendment was written long ago,. If the author of this letter is so concerned about the integrity of constitutional compliance, then why aren’t they arguing FOR the rights of people who have owned a pistol with a large capacity clip for decades with ZERO issues!!?? That wold be 99.99999999% of legal gun owners!!
STOP Soros DA’s from using no bail tactics and keep criminals IN JAIL!!
and along with the fiasco of the legalization of HARD drugs with ZERO investment in MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT, THIS law completely IGNORES the FACT that ALL of these shooters had MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES!!!
These sheriff’s are UPHOLDING the constitution by NOT ALLOWING this UNconstitutional law to be enforced!!
The 2nd Amendment makes it clear that these *privileges” belong to “A WELL REGULATED MILITIA”… to own a MUSKET (not an automatic killing machine)
It would appear that this has been neglected.
The 2d Amendment is a fundamental right. It is not an absolute right. Even this pro-gun, pro-2d Amendment Supreme Court has this year held that the states have the power to regulate the use and ownership of firearms. Oregon 114 is such a regulation. Nothing in Oregon 114 has been held unconstitutional. Though an interesting proposition, there is no legal authority…zero…which supports the idea that any sheriff has the power to decide whether a statute is unconstitutional. There is abundant legal authority to support the proposition that sheriffs are required to enforce the law. Voters have spoken. Now it is time for all sheriffs to do their jobs.
114 is now the law of the land of Oregon, where numerous communities–including our own–have endured mass shootings. Yet, as this fine editorial states, we are now “back on the campaign trail,” falling back into the same rhetoric and argumentation that the voting public rejected just two weeks ago when they approved 114.
Mixed up in this campaign to raise holy hell about 114, which is a mild, modest step for a safer society, is the role of the County Sheriff, who has been enshrined in extremist thought as a one man government speaking “with the power of angels.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04…
This so-called Constitutional Sheriff Movement tried to take over Deschutes County government in May 2018, when some folks filed to place an initiative on the ballot that would have effectively given the County Sheriff the power to determine which–if any–gun safety laws to enforce.
Two local residents challenged this ballot title in court and won a ruling that changed its language from “prohibiting enforcement of laws that regulate their [firearms] manufacture, sale, and possession” to “authorizing Sheriff to determine constitutionality and enforceability of firearms regulations.”
In all probability, this new wording scared people away from signing the petition to place this initiative on the ballot; it failed.
Shane Nelson never was anointed Constitutional Sheriff, but he doubtlessly realizes he needs to appeal to his base to win re-election. So, in the meantime, he can be expected to slow-walk enforcement of 114.
Something else to roil the dinner table on the day of turkey and all the fixations.
It is long past due that the position of Sheriff should be appointed and not elected so that rural law enforcement is overseen by an elected civilian official. Outrageous behavior by the person with a badge and a gun needs to be answered immediately and not on a four year cycle. Rural law enforcement would become more predictable and less political without constitutional sheriffs.
It’s this simple. If you don’t like the laws in Oregon because you think they are too liberal and too influenced by people in Portland then move to Idaho or Texas or Florida or somewhere like that. It’s not going to change. Oregon is and has been for a long time known as a very blue state.
Pitching fits like a two year old and basically circumventing the democratic process because you don’t agree with something is just plain stupid. These Sheriffs need to be removed from their positions immediately.